Love Raines
by jarodsangel
Summary: This is a start to a series that I'm working on......focusing on Maeve and Jarod


Disclaimer: "The Pretender" belongs to TNT and the WB, created for NBC. Maeve is mine, so hands off without checking with me first.  
  
  
  
Albany, New York  
  
Jarod sat in his office looking over the files for his patients the following day when there was a knock at the door. He looked up and saw a woman about seven years younger than him. She had sapphire eyes and dark curly hair. She reminded him a lot of Miss Parker, only with baggy khakis and a tank with a button-down shirt over the top, and sunglasses were keeping her curls from falling in her face, instead of a boring suit that Parker always seemed to choose. "Can I help you?"  
  
"The question is Doctor." She looked at the sign. "Can I help you?" Her eyes flashed with amusement. "I know who you really are, Jarod." She appraised the man before her. Scrubs were quite becoming on him. He had aged well since she had seen him last.  
  
"I'm afraid you have me at a loss. You are?"  
  
"Maeve. Maeve Raines." She replied as she sat down in the extra chair in front of his desk.  
  
"Raines, as in Mr. Raines."  
  
"One and the same."  
  
"You're here to take me back?" He was already planning an escape.  
  
"No." Her answer more than surprised him.  
  
"No? Than why are you here?"  
  
"I have a debt to repay, a debt to you. Now I want to repay it. The Centre knows you're here and a task force is being assembled to capture you. You need to get out of here."  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"Those black vans that are pulling up in the parking lot mostly."  
  
"Damn."  
  
"Come on. My car is out back." She looked out the window once more.  
  
"I-" He knew that there was something trustworthy about her, but this was her life.  
  
"Jarod, I'm not debating this. I'm leaving before they see me. Are you with me or did I just come here to check out your office before they haul you off?"  
  
"I'm with you for now." He replied grabbing his leather jacket. Both ran to the back, where a black Pontiac Firebird was waiting for them. They were a few miles away from the clinic before either spoke.  
  
  
  
"How did you find me?"  
  
"Your mother."  
  
"You've seen my mother?" He asked with a new found hope.  
  
"No, she called me and told me what was going on. I left as soon as I heard and here I am." She looked over at Jarod and had to look away, pain and loss ran through his features.  
  
"Did she say anything else?" He asked, refusing to look at her.  
  
"Just to take care of you." She bemused the thought of caring for him. He had cared for her once. She never forgot.  
  
"You said that you had a debt to me. What debt?"  
  
"Do you remember when Mr. Parker brought you a girl, she was very sick and you had to find a cure? She was eleven and you were about twenty. It was a sim or at least that's what they told you, that sick little girl was me. I do remember that you sat and talked to me until Angelo snuck me out when I was starting to recover. You voice was so soothing. It made me feel better and the care you showed me has gotten me through more than one instance of pain in my life. I grew up with a foster family until they were killed seven years ago in a car accident, right after I was taken to the Centre in fact, and I've been on the move ever since."  
  
"That's quite a story. I do remember you. They told me that you never were sick and they were just testing me, but just by looking in your eyes I could tell that you were." Jarod replied as he took in the passing scenery.  
  
"Well I'm grateful to you and I'm glad I could repay your kindness to me." Maeve answered.  
  
"What does you father think of all of this?"  
  
"He doesn't know that I'm still alive or he would have come for me. There was a girl killed in the accident, my age and size. She was a homeless girl that my parents were going to take in and adopt. I left as soon as I heard the news. I ran away and I haven't looked back." She replied as she pulled her sunglasses down. The rest of the drive was filled with small talk. She pulled into a parking lot in front of a large apartment complex. "Coming up?"  
  
He entered the apartment. It was a loft with a bed in one corner, a kitchen in another and the rest was devoted to living space. It was laid out in oriental décor. "What do you do for a living Maeve?"  
  
"I'm a pretender, just like you. I don't stick around in one place to long."  
  
"This is a nice apartment though."  
  
"It came furnished. I don't have time to go furniture shopping." She walked over to the fridge. She returned with two bottled waters. She sat down next to Jarod and flipped on the television. "I'm almost done with this pretend, I need something new." She left the news channel on.  
  
"New parents were horrified to find their children missing after a one  
  
year reunion. Each of the children were adopted over the last year and  
  
a celebration was held in their honor. More details as they become  
  
available."  
  
"I know that orphanage." Maeve turned off the television. "The people that work there are bad news. I'm willing to bet that they are behind this and I'm going to put a stop to it."  
  
"What did you have in mind?" He asked, curious as to what she would think of.  
  
"I think I want to adopt a child and see where the slime trail leads, but I need your help." She informed him. A plan was starting to evolve before her.  
  
"What do you need?"  
  
"How do you feel about being a dad?" She asked with a grin.  
  
Two days later  
  
"Mr. And Mrs. Elliot congratulations. The paper work went through and you are now the parents of a beautiful baby girl."  
  
"Honey, I'm so happy." Maeve kissed Jarod on the cheek.  
  
"I know. We both have waited a long time for this." He hugged Maeve. "Let's go see our daughter."  
  
"Here she is." A woman brought the little girl in. She was barely one year old with curly blonde hair and a pink sundress on.  
  
"Thank you." Maeve took the child from the woman and placed her on her lap. The little girl took an instant liking to Jarod, she reached out for him and he immediately picked her up. She giggled and began to play with his tie. "We should be going. Thank you for everything." Maeve told the woman. "Come along sweetie." The couple stood and she kissed the baby on the forehead, before placing a chaste kiss on Jarod's lips. "We have a long drive home."  
  
"Of course. Enjoy your new family." The woman called as they walked out the door. She turned to the nurse. "They can afford a ten-thousand dollar ransom. I want that child sold to the next buyer. We are not waiting on this one."  
  
"We will." Maeve and Jarod left with the child. They drove to a plush estate that Jarod had scammed from the Centre. "Jarod, I hope I'm right about this."  
  
"From what we discovered I think you are." He replied listening to the bug they had planted in the office.  
  
  
  
Two hours later.  
  
"What can you tell me about the orphanage?"  
  
"Jarod, you can ask me about just about anything. That is not one of the things that you can ask. I refuse to remember what happened and over the years it's turned into a blank I don't remember how I got there or when I left. I was just magically with a new family."  
  
"I'd like to try hypnosis if you don't mind."  
  
"Jarod, I don't know."  
  
"Don't you want to know?"  
  
"When it comes to that place, probably not." She finally gave since it would help the other kids.  
  
  
  
Half-hour later.  
  
"Maeve, I need you to relax. You are arriving at the orphanage. What do you see?" He asked.  
  
"A large building. It looks scary." Her voice took on a childish tone. She seemed agitated.  
  
"Okay, you're going into the building. Now what happens next?"  
  
"Mrs. Eriksson throws me in this dark room. Jarod help!" Maeve was turning the hypnotic world into reality.  
  
"What's happening?" Jarod asked.  
  
"Mr. Eriksson is coming in." She replied as tears fell down her cheeks.  
  
"Maeve, you're an observer. It's over, observe, but don't put yourself back into the girl you once were. Be strong for her." He sensed her fear, but she may have seen something during her stay that would help them.  
  
"He did bad things to the kids. He hit them and he sells them. I remember hearing them in the office. If the kids weren't good they were burned on the top of the thigh and we were all forced to watch." She snapped out of the trance and ran to the bathroom, he could hear her throwing up.  
  
Maeve returned a few minutes later. She picked up the baby and began to play with her. The child loved the new toys that they had picked up for her. "He never did anything to me. He said that I was worth too much, but if the money ever ran out I was his." Maeve continued after twenty minutes. "I'm assuming my father was paying him to keep me there and away from the Centre. The other kids were at his mercy. I could hear everything every night, the screams of terror. Jarod, we have to help them. They are just kids, kids without families and no one to look out for them. The woman in the office was Mrs. Eriksson. She has been the head of the orphanage since I was there. She has a sleazy husband that has been arrested numerous times for drugs. I heard that he has a major debt to some drug dealer and they are pressing him for money. I'm afraid they are selling children to pay off the debt. They are selling them to God knows who for some horrible purpose."  
  
"We will help them. I promise."  
  
"Well I think it's time we all head to bed." Maeve said looking at her watch, it was almost 11:00 and they were planning on setting up surveillance in the morning throughout the house. They put the baby to bed and looked over the equipment for the morning. "Jarod, I know we have separate rooms and everything, but could you stay with me, just for tonight?"  
  
"Of course I will." Jarod replied. The woman next to him mesmerized him. He hadn't felt this way since he had lost Zoey. With Maeve there were no secrets or lies between them. They were both pretenders without families, vulnerable to the world and the sweepers of the Centre. Destiny pulled them together. Their bodies leaned closer to one another and their lips met. Jarod pulled away. "I'm sorry."  
  
"I'm not." Was the reply he received before she kissed him and they were lost to one another. She kissed him with a primal need buried within the kiss. She was clinging to him as her life preserver. Finally they broke apart and got ready for bed. Jarod was the last one ready and shut off the light before climbing in. Maeve was already dozing off. "Hey." She murmured as she felt the shift of the bed.  
  
"Hey." Jarod replied. Maeve was sleeping by the time Jarod was settled. She looked like an angel sleeping, all the worries of the day were gone and she was at peace. He couldn't believe he was falling in love with the daughter of Mr. Raines. They were as different as night and day. She was kind where Mr. Raines was heartless. She loved children as much as he did and they both desperately wanted to have a family of their own. Maybe this was the start that they were looking for. Mell was still a baby and could be moved around until they could find a place to settle down. He reached over and brushed a curl away from Maeve's face. Her body instinctively flinched away. People had hurt her before and it looked as though there were emotional and psychological trauma that they would eventually have to deal with. At that moment he made a promise, "I'll always protect you." It was as if she had sub-consciously heard him. In her sleep she curled against him and the stress etched in her features was once again gone.  
  
  
  
The next day they set up security. The scam ran as planned and Mr. and Mrs. Eriksson were placed behind bars along with their accomplice, the nurse that they had hired was a convicted kidnapper. Realizing they couldn't give Mell what she need they gave her to a young couple that had been waiting for years to adopt a child.  
  
"Jarod, I have to go." Maeve told him as they were packing up the house. "This pretend was a little to close to home. I need time to think."  
  
"I'll be waiting." Jarod promised her. Maeve kissed him with a renewed passion and then took off in her Sunbird.  
  
  
  
Eight months later..  
  
Maeve went out to the mailbox of her new home and pulled out a package. There were files in it and a ticket for Albuquerque, New Mexico. She packed up and left that afternoon. She had known that Jarod had always known where she was, but silently thanked him for giving her the time to think. She was ready to be with him.  
  
  
  
"I'll be ready in a couple minutes." She yelled into the room and returned with an unpacked backpack. "Ready when you are."  
  
"I'm ready, let's go." Jarod answered. Maeve drove most of the way and let Jarod take over the last half-hour of the drive. They arrived in the small town. They found an inn to stay at. They were posing as a team who were sent to work on the case for the government. Jarod was posing as a federal officer and Maeve as a public health director. They were both put up in separate areas of the inn and sent their separate ways. They both had jobs to do. Jarod would investigate the crime while Maeve worked with the family. They had all been badly injured in the destruction of the house.  
  
Jarod pulled into the police department. He wanted to look at the file that the police had created about the case. It was crudely put together and he little to go on. He decided to start with the scene of the crime. There was little left to the house when he arrived. The fire had done most of the damage. The father of the family was being fingered as a member of the Mexican drug trade by some of the local thugs. Jarod didn't think that was the case and he was going to find the real drug launders in the town.  
  
Maeve arrived at the hospital that evening. She checked her patients' charts before going to see them.  
  
Carl Branson  
  
Age: 37  
  
Blood type: A  
  
Condition: Broken ribs  
  
Broken arm  
  
Internal bleeding  
  
Hemorrhaging in the cranium  
  
Prognosis: Terminal  
  
"Not if I can help it." Maeve mumbled going to the next chart  
  
Leanna Branson  
  
Age: 36  
  
Blood Type: B  
  
Condition: Cuts and lacerations of the body  
  
Swelling around the spine  
  
Burns on a third of her body  
  
Prognosis: Recovery  
  
"Better prognosis at least. Now for the children."  
  
Jayne Branson  
  
Age: 7  
  
Blood Type: AB  
  
Condition: Burns covering the body  
  
Still being treated for cancer  
  
Prognosis: Terminal  
  
"I will not lose another child." Maeve thought about a little girl that she had just lost to cancer in her last pretend. That was a mistake that she would not make again. There was something she could do. She wouldn't let another child slip through her fingers.  
  
Brian Branson  
  
Age: 18 months  
  
Blood Type: B  
  
Condition: Complications from smoke inhalation  
  
Prognosis: Full recovery  
  
The rest of each chart was the medication that was administered and the photos of when they were brought in. It was amazing that they were not killed when the fire collapsed the house on them. She saw each of the patients. They were all put in one room and were all in good spirits for the condition that they were in. The only one that was in a separate room was their father. He had yet to regain consciousness. Maeve prescribed a new anti-inflammatory for Carl and arranged for further treatments for Jayne. She then headed back to the inn to do some research on an experimental drug therapy for stomach cancer. It was around ten when Jarod stopped by to compare notes.  
  
"Working late again I see."  
  
"Jarod, with all the caffeine I drink. Scaring me is a good way to finish me off." Maeve scolded as she tried to catch her breath.  
  
"Well then you should cut down." He replied leaning over to look at the paperwork she was doing and kissed her on the cheek.  
  
"Tried. I just got real hard to deal with. What did you find?"  
  
"A rubble pile that was once a house."  
  
"Really? How about something that wasn't shown on the ten o'clock."  
  
"Patience." He grinned.  
  
"Never had any." She retorted and kissed him.  
  
"You remind me a lot of your half-sister."  
  
"The Ice Queen? Thanks a lot." She replied hitting him on the arm. "So what else did you find?"  
  
Jarod ran down the suspects that he had. The sheriff, deputy, head doctor, or town builder, possible a combination or all four. "You?"  
  
"The father and daughter both have a prognosis of terminal. Brian will make a full recovery and so should Leanna."  
  
"I know Carl was the most injured of the family, but what is the story on Jayne?"  
  
"Terminal cancer, but I have an idea. It's an experimental drug therapy, but it should work." Maeve replied with a long yawn following. "Goodnight Jarod." Maeve headed off into the bathroom. He pulled out a cell phone.  
  
"This is Sydney."  
  
"What is the secret behind Maeve Raines?"  
  
"Jarod, what prompts this question and how do you know about her?"  
  
"I took a guess. So what is she?"  
  
"She was killed a few years ago and Raines hasn't been the same since. She was his pride and joy. The one pure thing he had. She was the innocence that his wife had had before she was drugged. Maeve took the loss of her mother very hard and Raines hardened as well. She was killed in a car accident a long time ago. What brought this name up?"  
  
"Something I ran across."  
  
"Jarod there was never a mention of Maeve on the DSA or any files. I met the child when we snuck her in to seek treatment from you. When they brought her in she was a Jane Doe and no one thought anything of it. What are you working on Jarod?"  
  
"I'll get back to you." Jarod hung up the phone. Maeve returned to the room a few minutes later.  
  
"I thought you were gone." She said with amusement.  
  
"No such luck." Jarod replied.  
  
"I'm glad." She answered. Something in her demeanor had changed she was much more like the girl that Sydney had described, than the confident pretender she usually showed to everyone. "Jarod, do you hate the night?"  
  
"No, I do some of my best work in the wee hours of the morning. Do you?"  
  
"It's bad, very bad."  
  
"What do you mean?" He asked taking her hand which trembled in his.  
  
"It's dark. I hate the dark. After my family died they took me into the dark and then they let me go with a family, my foster family." She replied.  
  
"Who put you in the dark?" Fearing that he knew the answer from their last adventure. She was innocent and fragile, looking to him for the answers.  
  
"The adoption people."  
  
"That's why you sleep with the light on?" He had kept on eye on her over the time they were apart and her bedroom light was always on.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"It's okay to have fears. It's part of what makes us human." Jarod tried to console the girl before him.  
  
"I'm glad you're here. They've been getting worse lately." She rose from the couch sank tiredly into the over-stuffed chair next to the table Jarod was sitting at. Now with all of her makeup taken away she looked tired and stressed out. He was starting to have second thoughts about contacting her. "I've been having nightmares about the adoption home."  
  
"Do you want me to stay?"  
  
"Would you?"  
  
"Of course. Now get some sleep. You have a patient to help tomorrow." He tucked her in and waited as she drifted off. He then started to look at the bag that she had brought. She had clothes for the pretend and ID's, plus a picture of a younger Mr. Raines with her at what looked like a park. The night passed and both went to work the next morning.  
  
  
  
Maeve's beeper went off with an emergency message from Jarod. She checked the message and went to the cave to meet him.  
  
  
  
Jarod received an emergency dispatch message from Maeve while he had been out on patrol to go to a cave on the outskirts of town. He picked up his jacket and headed for the cave.  
  
  
  
Maeve was the first to arrive and went to look for Jarod in the cave. Jarod arrived shortly after and noticed the heavy door that sealed the cave was open. He went in followed the trail that Maeve had made.  
  
"Jarod, finally, what was so important?"  
  
"What do you mean? I just got a message from you to come here."  
  
"I never sent a message." Both sets of eyes widened. They raced for the door and were almost there when it shut. Dousing all light from the cave.  
  
"NO!" Maeve pounded on the door to no avail. She kept pounding until Jarod pulled her away.  
  
"Maeve." She tried to get to the door again. "Maeve! Stop! We will get out of here, but that's not the way."  
  
"It's dark. Really dark."  
  
"I know." He could feel her shaking against him. The fear that had started was replaced by pure panic. She was breathing rapidly with shallow breaths. He sat down and pulled Maeve down and pulled her back against his chest, his legs on either side of her. "Maeve close your eyes."  
  
"Jarod." She protested through clenched chattering teeth.  
  
"Do it." She finally complied. "I need you to think of your favorite place in the world where you feel safe and secure."  
  
"Okay." The house they had stayed in the night they were together, in bed, with Jarod beside her.  
  
"I need you to stay there." He moved over towards the door.  
  
"For how long?" She asked, starting to panic since he had left her side.  
  
"Until I call you back. I'm going to get us out of here." No sooner had he said that, an explosion rocked the cave. Rocks fell in on them and dust rolled up in clouds from the floor. Jarod was unhurt as far as he could tell. He pulled the door and it opened, the explosion had damaged the door, since it came from somewhere inside the cave, most likely down a tunnel. "Maeve!" He yelled. No answer. "Maeve!" A soft groan came from where she had been sitting. The door finally sprung open and light flooded the cave. Light shone on Maeve. There was a gash to her head and cuts all over her body, along with the rocks that covered her lower half. Jarod ran over to her. She was no longer conscious and he was afraid that she would go into shock. He thought about taking her to the hospital, but if they were both trapped in here, it wasn't safe for her to be there. He checked her for any spinal injury or broken limbs and found none. She was starting to come around. "Maeve."  
  
"What happened?" She felt strange and everything hurt. Jarod blurred into one figure and then in to numerous figures again.  
  
"There was an explosion." He could hear a truck in the canyon a few miles down the road. "We need to get out of here. Whoever did this is coming back. Can you get up?"  
  
"Yeah." She started to get up and Jarod helped her up. "My side." Maeve would have screamed if the pain hadn't taken her breath away. There was wound gushing blood from her side. She pressed her hand to it. "We need to get out of here fast, before I bleed to death."  
  
"Come on." Jarod helped her hobble out of the cave and around the corner. A car pulled up and two men got out, the sheriff and the head physician at the hospital.  
  
"Jarod as fascinating as this is to watch, I'm - getting a little light- headed."  
  
"The cars are in plan sight. We can't get to them."  
  
"Then we need a place to hide. There are a series of caves and it's almost dark, we need to find one. Fast!"  
  
"Let's go." He was reluctant to leave before the scene before them played out, but she was starting to turn an unhealthy color of white. Jarod half carried her to a nearby cave and decided that was as far as she should travel. "We stop here for the night."  
  
"We need a fire." Maeve told him as the sun had just gone down and there was no light in the cave.  
  
"It's warm enough not to have one and it would give away where we are hiding."  
  
"Jarod, I can't-" She sagged against him as the last movement had sent her pain sensors into overload. Now that she was unconscious he was going to try and find something to bind the wound on her side. He tore up his undershirt and made a bandage that would have to hold until they got out of the caves. With the rest of the material he created a torch and put Maeve over his shoulder. The caves were all connected and they were not safe in any of them, but there was a cave that was behind the cars and that was their way out. It took him half the night to negotiate around the caved in parts of the shafts, but finally he made it to the cars. Silently he opened the back seat and put Maeve in. Shutting the door he opened his and slid into the driver's seat. He turned the ignition and threw it into reverse. He drove down to a summer camp that was not currently in use and pulled the car behind a cabin. He carried Maeve in and put her on one of the double beds. He ran outside and grabbed his duffle bag, he learned to always carry a first aide kit on his pretends and this was the reason why. Fever had set in and she was tossing and turning. "Maeve, it's Jarod, can you hear me?"  
  
"Jarod?"  
  
"I need you to keep talking to me. The wound on your side was bleeding pretty badly."  
  
"Wound? It's so hot in here." She was tossing again.  
  
"Maeve focus." He didn't want to tear the wound in her side any further. It looked like it was starting to clot.  
  
"I'm so tired. I can't."  
  
"You have to, infection or shock is setting in."  
  
"I'll try." She closed her eyes and then they reopened with a bit of clarity to them. Jarod pulled away the bandage completely. The wound was much better than it was and he super-glued it together along with the gash on her head. Her fever was rising.  
  
"Daddy?" Glazed over eyes looked at Jarod.  
  
"It's me Jarod."  
  
"Where's my Daddy?"  
  
"He's not here." Jarod eased her back and wiped her face with a cool cloth. Her curls cascaded down from the crown of her head to the pillow in ringlets which were starting to moisten with the rise in her fever.  
  
"No! Don't leave me!! Mom!!!!" Maeve was screaming at this point.  
  
  
  
August 20, 1994  
  
Gail Anderson dropped off her daughter. "Maeve, I'll see you when we get home. We are just going to pick up Hannah from the homeless district and we will be right home."  
  
"Okay, I'll be waiting."  
  
"Are you excited to be getting a new sister?"  
  
"Yes. We will have so much fun together." The girl replied enthusiastically.  
  
They were gone for two hours and then the doorbell rang. There were men at the door with news that her family had been in an accident, something seemed wrong to her and the man with an air tank tried to take her to his car, but she ran. She was afraid.  
  
Back to present.  
  
"NO!" Maeve shot up.  
  
"Maeve, it's okay you're here with me at a cabin." Jarod caressed her cheek. She ducked her head into his hand. Her eyes met his with confusion.  
  
"What are we doing here?"  
  
"I brought you here after the explosion."  
  
"The cave." Bits were starting to come back to her.  
  
"Yes, it was in the cave."  
  
"I'm really tired. What happened?" Feeling like she had been hit by a large semi.  
  
"You were injured in the cave."  
  
"How did I get out?"  
  
"I carried you to the car and then we came here."  
  
"Jarod?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Where do you think my real parents are?"  
  
Jarod replied as he settled her back into bed. He had no idea where her mother was, most likely dead and her father was not the man he was when she was little. "You need to rest. I'd like to leave in the morning."  
  
"I want to leave now." Panic was starting to settle in the back of her mind. Something with this setup was wrong.  
  
"You really shouldn't be moved."  
  
"Please."  
  
"You're sure you're up for it?"  
  
"Yes, I promise."  
  
"Alright." He helped her to the car and they headed back to the inn.  
  
  
  
"Well Doc it looks like they left. Someone's hurt though." The sheriff told him picking up a bloody bandage.  
  
"Damn. We were so close."  
  
  
  
He took her to her room. She was sweating and shaking when he brought her in and her color had started to gray. "We should not have moved you." Jarod muttered to no one in particular.  
  
"I asked you to." Was the soft response from his patient. He thought that she had fallen asleep a while ago.  
  
"That doesn't mean that I should have listened."  
  
"I thank you for bringing me back. We were in danger. They were going to find us. I felt it." She smiled at him. "In the morning we need to get to the hospital. They are going to kill that entire family."  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"I'm not sure. I just know they are going to hurt that poor family. The files-" She replied and tried to get up. Pain shot through her like a lightning bolt. She saw stars and the room lightened and darkened, her knees began to give, but she felt Jarod steady her. He was cool to her and she found comfort in that. He eased her back onto the bed and began to cover her up. "Jarod, don't. It's way too hot in here."  
  
"We need to get your body temperature down." He came back with a bowl of water and a cloth. He had taken off the t-shirt that she had on earlier, but it had do little to lower her fever. Her pants had been too dirty to leave her in and he had put her in boxers and tank top that he had found in her bag. He wiped her head and arms with the cloth. The dirt from the explosion came off with the sweat that had started to bead up on her skin. He hadn't realized until now how dirty her upper body was, since she had been in a t-shirt and khakis with hiking boots when she arrived at the cave. The khakis had held up, but the t-shirt was in shreds. Jarod wiped off her neck and down to the edge of the tank. He lifted the bottom of the tank, until it was barely covering her bra. The second the cloth touched her stomach she shuddered and pulled away at the temperature change. Her wound was staying closed and the redness was starting to dissipate from the area around the wound, which meant the wound was probably not infected like he had first thought and the fever was brought on by shock. "It's okay Maeve." He reassured her, knowing that she had a traumatic life at the orphanage and she was not in the best state of mind. He looked at her abs; he hadn't noticed that she had a belly ring. The diamond at the end of the small chain glistened in the light. He knew that it was new since he had seen her last. He was guessing it was about six months old, since the redness that always set in had gone. He finished wiping her down. Her color was improving again and she was resting peacefully. Placing a light sheet over her, he looked over her files, trying to see what he hadn't. She knew they were in danger, but how? Then the answer jumped at him, they all were highly allergic to penicillin. He placed a call to his mentor.  
  
"This is Sydney."  
  
"How do you know when you have met the one?"  
  
"The one what?"  
  
"The one you want to spend the rest of your life with."  
  
"You've met someone?"  
  
"You could say that."  
  
"Fascinating. What is she like?"  
  
"She's an angel. She's my sweet, beautiful, strong-willed, yet vulnerable angel."  
  
"Who is she?"  
  
"Maeve."  
  
Sydney, almost spit out the coffee he was sipping. "Maeve, how did you two get together?"  
  
"Destiny, fate, luck in my case. She's a pretender, too."  
  
"Of course, she was created with the pretender genes that we extracted from one of our earlier test subjects. Everything about the project was destroyed and everyone, but Raines and I, are dead."  
  
"Well he did something right in his life. He let her go."  
  
"He still wants her back. Like you, he hunts her as well. Protect her."  
  
"I'm trying, she's been hurt."  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"An explosion."  
  
"My God, is she alright?"  
  
"I think she will be. There are more emotional scars than there could ever be physical."  
  
"Well, she was the test subject that Raines hid away, he wants the best for her, but his mind is so scrambled now, it's hard to know what he's up to."  
  
"What should I do or say?"  
  
"Be honest with her, always be honest and follow her inner sense."  
  
"Thanks Sydney." Jarod hung up the phone. He allowed his mind to drift as he dozed in slumber.  
  
"Jarod?"  
  
A groggy voice woke him up. He looked to see Maeve looking directly back at him. "Hey." He moved to sit at the edge of the bed. He felt her forehead. It was back to a normal temperature. "How are you feeling?"  
  
"I think I'm alright."  
  
Jarod checked the wound on her side. It was faintly red near the wound. "Well the wound on your side looks better."  
  
"Good. It's going to have to be. We have a lot to do today."  
  
"You said something about the entire family being killed last night. They are all allergic to penicillin and the head doctor has been lacing their pills with it, preventing infection in the burns and preventing them from getting any better."  
  
"Exactly. Today they all start the I.V. treatment that he prescribed, laced with penicillin. We have to stop him."  
  
"While we are there we can put some real stitches on the wound."  
  
"Nah, it looks good to me." She started to get up, but waited for the room to settle before trying to sit all the way up. Jarod helped get to a standing position. "Thank you."  
  
"Your welcome."  
  
"Let's get ready and head out." She took her clothes into the bathroom and changed. She returned a few minutes later in a sundress and her lab coat on. Jarod followed her out and insisted on driving. "Jarod?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"How do you feel about me?" She asked, but her sunglasses hid his ability to read what was in her eyes.  
  
"You're like my best friend. We have so much in common."  
  
"I see."  
  
"And I'm in love with you." He replied with a smile. He knew that was the answer she had been looking for all along. She squeezed his hand in response. Jarod was well aware that it would take time before she would be able to say it to him, but she was worth the wait to him.  
  
After they stopped the I.V. drips they went to the head doctor's office. They drugged him and brought him to the state police, where he was more than eager to share what he knew.  
  
"Jarod."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"What happens next?"  
  
"It's up to us. What do you want to do?"  
  
"Take a break. Go to Miami or something."  
  
"I'll wait for you." Jarod said quietly. He had thought she was finally ready.  
  
"That wasn't exactly what I had in mind. I meant a getaway for the two of us." She replied resting her head on his shoulder.  
  
"I like the sounds of that." He answered kissing the top of her head. "Miami it is."  
  
The pretenders drove off towards Florida and new adventures, but they were no longer pretending alone. 


End file.
